News About Students

Teodor Huzij, DO was awarded the 2010 Resident of the Year by the American Academy of Osteopathy (PAAO). Dedicated to Osteopathic Medicine from the beginning, Dr. Huzij completed a dual Family Medicine/Psychiatry Residency within the U.S. military and received AOA training approval via Resolution 42. While stationed in Japan for four years, Dr. Huzij not only cared for thousands of psychiatric patients, he took the initiative to found and run an OMT Clinic within that hospital. Being able tointegrate OMT with his practice of medicine and psychiatry kept him deeply interested in his Osteopathic roots and ultimately led him to a residency in NMM/OMM at UNECOM.

As Junior Faculty at UNECOM, Dr. Huzij is responsible for delivering didactic and hands-on presentations to fi rst and second year osteopathic medical students. Dr. Huzij has proven to be an engaging lecturer and his hands-on lab presentations are clear and concise and promote student learning; resulting in high evaluations from the students and faculty in both the didactic and table training realms.

At the national level, Dr. Huzij was invited to speak at the AOA Annual Convention in New Orleans November 2009. He presented a lecture entitled, "Osteopathic Psychiatry" to the American College of Osteopathic Neurologists and Psychiatrists (ACONP) in which he challenged the long held belief and practice of psychiatrists that teaches them to avoid touching their patients, thereby precluding Osteopathic Psychiatrists from practicing OMM/OMT on their patients.

Dr. Huzij co-authored a position paper for the AOA regarding "Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy in Psychiatry: Position Paper, 2007". One of Dr. Huzij's long-term goals within the AOA is to completely change the way Osteopathic Psychiatrists practice medicine. He is leading the way for Osteopathic Principles of Manipulative Medicine to be re-incorporated into the practice of psychiatry.

Winners of the University of New England 2010 Undergraduate Arts and
Sciences Symposium have been announced. The symposium was held Friday,
May 7, 2010 at the Biddeford Campus.

This annual symposium allows students to present their research,
classroom projects, art work, or other work done at UNE in either an
oral presentation, poster presentation, or artistic display format.

Presentations

More than 45 oral presentations were presented this year ranging
from the "Compromising, Selling Out, or Both? The Fair Trade Movement
and Globalization" to "Testing Abuse Liability of Novel Delta Opioid
Pain Relievers," from "The Effect of Induced Osteo Arthritis on Muscle
and Bone Quality" to "Determining Age and Size At Sexual Maturity of
Black Dogfish."

There were also more than 55 poster sessions ranging from "The
Spectrophotometric Characterization of Novel Naphthyl-Substituted
Silole" to "This Lifeless Medium is so Poetic it’s Living Art."

Honors Presentations

Oral presentations included Honors presentations on "The Effects of
Methylphenidate and Atomoxetine on Attention and Levels of
Norepinephrine, Dopamine, and Serotonin in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex
of Adult Rats," Francine Brym (Pharmacology);"118-Production of Fos in
the Trigeminal Nucleus From Chronic Morphine Withdrawal Induced by
Naloxone," Konrad Kross (Biology); "107-Primes and Factor Rings in
Gaussian Integers," Caryn Howard (Mathematical Sciences); "From
Foucault's Delinquent to the Abject: The New Spectacle of Prison
Privatization," Dora Clements (Political Science).

The Winners

First Place - Oral Presentation of Original Research:

The Effects of Drug Contaminated Water on Maze Running and Learning in Female CD-1 Mice
Megan McBurnie (Psychology)
With the increased prevalence of drugs in drinking water supplies, this
study examines the acute effects of those drugs on learning

Second Place - Oral Presentation of Original Research (three-way tie):

From Foucault's Delinquent to the Abject: The New Spectacle of Prison Privatization
Dora Clements (Political Science)
This research examines the shift from the traditional type of
punishment described by Foucault in Discipline and Punish to the modern
spectacle that is the American privatized prison system

The Jewel in the Crown: Colonial Discourse and the English Novel
Cathrine O. Frank, Allison Alaimo, Maura Trinder, Emily Clifford (English)
A panel on representations of India in the works of Rudyard Kipling and Arthur Conan Doyle

Treatments for PTSD in Children and Adolescents: A Survey of Practitioners
Rachel Olinger , Rick Rizzo (Psychology)
In this survey study, we investigated the types of treatments used to
treat PTSD among practitioners, if treatments differed between
psychologists and social workers, and whether different treatments were
used for children when compared to adults

First Place - Poster Presentation:

Phenotyping and Quantifying Infiltrating CD4+ T-Cells Following Transection of the L5 Spinal Nerve
Kyle Draleau (Microbiology COM)
This project investigated the type of T-cells that infiltrate the
spinal cord following a neuropathic injury, as well as the level of the
cytokine associated with the infiltrating T-cell to learn more about
positive causes of neuropathic pain.

Second Place - Poster Presentation:

The Role of Cthrc1 in a Bleomycin Model of Pulmonary Fibrosis
Megyn Beyer (Pharmacology)
Pulmonary fibrosis is induced using bleomycin in an attempt to
investigate the role of Collagen Triple Helix Repeat Containing 1
protein (Cthrcl1) on the progression of pulmonary fibrosis.

Third Place - Poster Presentation:

In Silico Conformational Analysis of 6α- and 6β-Naltrexol and Derivatives
Jennifer Bayron (Chemistry and Physics)
In order to better understand conformational preferences in a series of
6α- and 6β-naltrexol diastereomers, several of which possess nanomolar
affinity at the μ-opioid receptor, minimum energy conformations of
these compounds and their derivatives (tosylate, mesylate, triflate,
iodide and methylene) were studied in silico

First Place - Oral Presentation of a Literature Review:

Understanding the Drug Provigil
Josh Havelin, Paul Fitzmorris (Chemistry & Physics)
The history of Provigil's creation, its uses in the present day, and method of treatment

Second Place - Oral Presentation of a Literature Review:

Managing with Alzheimer's Disease: Rivastigmine (Exelon)
Anda Panaitiu, Pratik Shah (Chemistry & Physics)
Rivastigtmine (sold under the name of Exelon) is a drug used in the
treatment of Alzheimer's related dementia. Rivastigtmine's properties,
molecular mechanism, and drug development process are described in the
current presentation

First Place - Artwork Display (Two-way tie):

This Lifeless Medium is so Poetic it’s Living Art
Nicole Perrault (Creative and Fine Arts)
Different mediums were used to express unique views on life and historical art.

The Dunbar Dragons
Katie Dunbar (Creative and Fine Arts)
A collection of dragon artwork, created through several media, including pen and ink, charcoal and acrylic paint on canvas

With her research project Stephanie qualified for the final round of the national undergraduate research competition “David Bruce Award”. Her research was funded by an undergraduate research fellowship from the American Physiological Society and performed in the laboratory of Markus Frederich, Associate Professor in the Department of Marine Sciences.

This spring the Political Science Department offered an advanced course on Model United Nations, which is the second time this course has been offered. Led by political science assistant professor Julie Mueller, Students from UNE participated along with 5,000+ peers from 340 schools on five continents in the 2010 National Model United Nations-NY (NMUN-NY) conference, hosted by the National Collegiate Conference Association.

Students in UNE's Women's and Gender Studies Program recently
presented along with Program Co-Director Jennifer Tuttle at the New
England Women's Studies Association Conference, held at U Mass
Dartmouth April 30-May 1, 2010. Their roundtable presentation was
entitled "Beyond the Classroom: Practicing Activism in a WGST Minor
Program."

Each student discussed the ways she has applied her women's and
gender studies education outside the classroom and explained why this
work was important to her and to society. Topics included on-campus
programming for body image and LGBTQ awareness, the V-Day Campaign to
end violence against women and girls, work with women in Ghana as part
of the UNE Health Mission, advocacy for women through the legal system,
and the recent Take Back the Night rally in Portland. Discussion with
the the audience during the panel explored the ways students'
coursework, such as Introduction to Women's Studies, has helped them to
find their "entry point" into feminism and to social awareness more
generally.

Ashley Peterson '12, a medical biology student, was profiled on NESN.com
for her participation in the upcoming Run to Home Base 9K, an event to
honor heroic veterans and help raise funds to provide much needed
services to local veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The
race is organized by the new Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts
General Hospital Home Base Program. As a combat medic in the Navy for
eight months in Iraq, Peterson mended many wounds. While she has
avoided some of the stressors that have hit others who returned from
active duty, the images and memories will always be there. To cope and
clear her head, Peterson has one course of action. "I go for a run,"
said Peterson.

Elisabeth Ziemba and Alyssa Martin, two UNE students minoring in
women's and gender studies, were interviewed on TV news stories about
the "Take Back the Night" rally in Portland on April 23, 2010. The
theme of this year's march was take back the media, saying if every
form of media stopped portraying women in a negative way the country
and Maine would be one step closer to letting people know it's okay to
talk about sexual assault. Ziemba, an English major, was interviewed on
WGME 13 and Martin, a psychology major, on WMTW 8. The two participated in the rally as part of their work for Lori Power's Introduction to Women's Studies class.

Alexandra Panaitiu has been selected as an alternate for the National Alpha Chi Honor Society's Alfred H. Nolle Scholarship. Alpha Chi has active chapters at some 300 institutions in almost every state and in Puerto Rico. Inducting no more than the top 10 percent of juniors, seniors, and graduate students in all academic fields, the society registers approximately 11,000 new members each year.

UNE’s chapter of Alpha Chi welcomed 45 new members at a formal
ceremony held on Feb. 5, 2010 in the Eleanor deWolfe Ludcke Auditorium
on the Portland Campus. The Alpha Chi National College Honor Society
membership is for the highest 10 percent of the junior and senior
classes. More than 200 friends and family joined the celebration. The
new members are: